Electrical resistivity image of the Jingsutu Graben at the NE margin of the Ejina Basin (NW China) and implications for the basin development

• Published in: Geophysical research letters Vol. 34; no. 9; pp. L09315 - n/a
• Main Authors: Becken, M., Hölz, S., Fiedler-Volmer, R., Hartmann, K., Wünnemann, B., Burkhardt, H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Geophysical Union 16.05.2007; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Cenozoic tectonics; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Ejina basin; Electromagnetics; Exact sciences and technology; Exploration Geophysics; Magnetic and electrical methods; Tectonics and landscape evolution; Tectonophysics; Transient and time domain; Far East; Mongolia; China; electromagnetics; Ejina basin; Cenozoic tectonics; satellites; basement; Mesozoic; pull-apart basins; Regional scope; normal faults; grabens; depressions; Asia; imagery; geometry; transient phenomena; Phanerozoic; electrical resistivity
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1029/2007GL029412

Magnetotelluric and transient electromagnetic data reveal the Graben geometry of a NNE striking depression within crystalline basement at the NE margin of the Ejina Basin. We interpret this structure as a Late Mesozoic pull‐apart basin, which is delineated by NNE‐striking normal faults to the east and west. Satellite imagery, SRTM elevation data and previously published geophysical data of our work group suggest that the Graben is part of normal‐fault system that continues at least 140 km farther to the south, thus forming the eastern margin of the Ejina Basin. NNE striking normal faults are atypical in a regional context, where NW striking and ENE striking fault systems prevail. Thus, this feature marks a distinct difference of the Ejina Basin when compared to other basin structures in the China‐Mongolia border region.